How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews · How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews A Small Development

Individual Learners Guide

How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews


How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews A Small Development Project funded by the Leadership Foundation

2 Updated: June 2011

Contents

Page No. Introduction 3

Terms Used in this Guide

Benefits of a Review Meeting

Content of this Learning Guide Individual University Procedures 5 Key Skills 6

Questioning

Listening

Giving Feedback

Gaining Agreement

Commitment to Actions

Preparation 18 The Review Meeting 21 Summary of Video Scenes 23




1. Introduction

What is a Review Meeting? Review meetings are known by different names in different universities, yours could be

called an appraisal or a personal development review or other similar title.

Whatever the name, it is a one to one meeting, probably held once a year, between the

team member and usually the person to whom they report. Sometimes, however, within

universities, reviews within academic areas are conducted by peers.

Terms Used in this Guide Within this learning guide we use the term ‘Review’ to describe the process, and

‘Reviewer’ refers to the person carrying out the review, whether or not this is the

manager. Team Member refers to the person being reviewed.

Benefits of a Review Meeting Essentially a review is an opportunity to have a discussion with a team member about their

work, their personal development and their future career. Successful reviews benefit the

team member, the team, the department and the University as a whole.

Review meetings provide an opportunity for the team member to have time with their

reviewer:

To discuss their performance and development

To discuss and agree future targets and objectives

To discuss personal and career development

To consider past performance and recognise successes

To identify where improvements/changes could be made




Content of this Learning Guide A review is a two way process. This learning guide and the video concentrate on you, the

reviewer and will offer guidance on how to conduct an effective review. The majority of

reviews go well with team members leaving feeling motivated and inspired.

However, because we are all different, a few team members may demonstrate

‘challenging’ behaviours. This guide is designed to help you with these more ‘difficult’

reviews in addition to offering general guidance.

Symbols used in the Learning Guide

Indicates relevant video scenes

Indicates an activity

Indicates an opportunity for reflection




2. Individual University Procedures It is not the remit of this Learning Guide to cover the procedures for reviews at all

universities. Your university will have it’s own policy and procedure and you should

familiarise yourself with these prior to conducting your review meetings.

Read your University’s policy regarding reviews and check:

Who is responsible for carrying out reviews

The frequency of reviews

What documentation needs to be completed and what happens to it

Any special requirements for your university




3. Key Skills

To conduct a successful review meeting you will benefit from mastering five key skills.

These are:

Questioning

Listening

Giving feedback

Gaining agreement

Committing to actions

We will be looking at each of these key skills, you will have an opportunity to reflect on

how you might use these skills and to see them demonstrated in relevant video scenes.

Remember that these skills will be useful in many conversations that you will have with your team members – don’t just save them up for reviews!




3a Questioning During a review the team member should do most of the talking. To make sure that this

happens you will need to ask open questions to encourage the team member to talk.

Open questions often begin with how, what, where, when, tell me about. Closed

questions can usually be answered with one word. In an effective review meeting you

should ask more open questions than closed.

Look at these questions and decide which ones could be answered with one word, and

which ones would require a more detailed answer.

Do you think that last year went well?

How do you feel the last year has gone?

What do you see as your strengths?

Is there anything that you want to do differently next year?

Tell me about any areas where you would like to do things differently

Can I help you with that?

Where do you feel you need my support?

When do you think you could do that for?

Is there anything that you are struggling with?

What would you do differently next time?


8 How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews A Small Development Project funded by the Leadership Foundation Updated: June 2011

Re-write the following closed questions to form open questions Do you know how to write formal reports? You’ve had experience of project management haven’t you? Do you need any help? Do you get on well with the team?

Using open questions enables the team member to reflect. Instead of you saying what you

think they should do differently, you might ask them „if you were doing X again, what

would you do differently?‟

This gives the team member an opportunity to identify improvements that they want to

make and because they have generated their own ideas they are more likely to commit to

these.



You have a team member who always works quickly and appears to be efficient. However

he makes mistakes which you think could be because he does not always check his work.

You have spoken to him before and things have improved slightly, but you want to raise it

again because the problem hasn’t completely gone away. It is not bad enough for a

disciplinary interview.

Make a note of:

some questions which might encourage the team member to reflect on his work

some questions to encourage him to adopt alternative behaviour

View Video 2 – Key Skills which contains examples of open questions.



3b Listening Some of us consider ourselves to be good listeners. Some of us don’t even think about

listening, it’s just something that you do, isn’t it? To listen effectively you need to

concentrate. We can listen on several levels.

Level 1

This is when we aren’t concentrating on the speaker, we may be looking at

them, we may even be displaying appropriate body language like nodding

and smiling in appropriate places. However we may also be aware of a

conversation happening at the other side of the room and may be ‘tuning

in’ to that at the same time. In effect we are only partially listening to the

speaker and are unlikely to pick up any ‘unsaid’ messages.

Level 2

When listening at this level we are concentrating on the speaker and ‘tuning

out’ other conversations or distractions that may be going on around us.

We are really listening to the words that they are saying, checking our

understanding, maybe by summarising and repeating back to them for their

confirmation.

Level 3

This is when we are concentrating not only on the words that are said but

also looking at body language to check whether or not it supports what is

being said. We will be listening to the tone of speech and may follow up

with some more probing questions. Listening at this level involves

identifying the feelings behind the words.

What level of listening do you usually employ?



In Summary

Aim to listen at level 3

Allow the team member ‘thinking time’, don’t be afraid of silence

Don’t immediately jump in with a solution. Let the team member finish and

have their say, even though it may be uncomfortable

Watch their body language, is it supporting the words they are using? Do they

really mean what they are saying ?

Probe for more information

View Video 3, Scene 3.1 – Reviewing administrative staff

In this scene Pardip comments that his communications with other departments are OK.

Joseph (the manager) notes his worried expression and repeats back “OK? You don‟t sound

too sure.”



3c Giving Feedback The golden rules of feedback are:

It should be specific

You should have witnessed the event (I saw, I heard etc)

You should own it (I statement)

It should be about something that can be changed

It should be given as soon after the event as possible

During a review meeting nothing should come as a surprise – so this won’t be the first time

that you will have given feedback on something that the team member has done well, or

not so well – you will have given feedback at the time, or as soon after as possible.

Ensure that you have specific examples

It’s nice to hear …… „you‟ve worked well this year‟

Better to hear ……. „I was particularly pleased with the way in which you

organised the conference in January – we had some

really good feedback on that‟

You could say… „You don‟t seem to make a lot of effort‟

Better to say…. „We spoke about your customer care recently and

agreed that you didn‟t often „go the extra mile‟‟

Give feedback on what you have seen/heard, for example:

„I have noticed that ………….‟

Rather than „I have been told that ………….‟.

Are there any occasions where you might find it difficult to give feedback? Think about what might make it difficult and how you could approach this.



View Video 3, Scene 3.2 – Reviewing manual services staff In this scene June give Dave feedback on his performance.

Think about a member of your team whom you will be reviewing. Consider their work during the last year and identify three specific things on which you could give them specific, honest feedback. Make a note of what you might say.



3d Gaining Agreement There may be occasions when you and the team member have completely different

opinions about an issue.

One way to resolve this is to try to get the team member to see the situation from another

perspective. Ask them to recall a particular instance and remember the reaction of one of

their colleagues, ask them why they think their colleague reacted in this way, how would

they have felt if someone had spoken to them this way? Would it have been possible to

say the same thing in a different tone, use different language? You might even ask them

to rephrase what they said.

By getting the team member to see the situation from another person’s point of view you

are more likely to gain agreement about their inappropriate behaviour and then you can

move on to discuss how they might change their behaviour.

An example could be about the way they speak to other members of the team – maybe

some team members find them a bit aggressive. The team member is not aware of this

and doesn’t see it as a problem – how are you going to get agreement and then move on to

taking action?

Make some notes of the questions you might ask to encourage their self reflection



Where the disagreement is on work performance then you will again need evidence to

show to the team member. This could be physical evidence, for example complaints, or

error rate. However, remember that the Review is not performance management and

anything that you bring up should not be a surprise to the team member.

View Video 3, Scene 3.4 – Reviewing academic staff

In this scene Jane gets Matt‟s agreement and commitment to actions to make changes to

his teaching style. Jane has gained Matt‟s agreement by asking probing questions to

encourage him to see the situation from the students‟ point of view.



3e Commitment to Actions It is likely that your discussions on many topics will result in actions on the part of the

team member. It is all too easy to agree that they will look into xxx and get back to you.

In reality this probably won’t happen.

It is far better to agree exactly what you want to happen in the form of a SMART objective.

S pecific M easurable A greed/A chievable R ealistic T imebound

This is an example of a SMART objective :

To investigate the feasibility of XXX, produce a short report and present it to the

management team meeting in December.

This objective is: Specific – The team member knows exactly what they must do Measurable – The measure of success is producing the short report Agreed/Achievable – This will have been agreed with the team member. It is achievable in the timescale agreed (it is now October). Realistic – It is within the scope of the team member’s job role Timebound – There is a date agreed for completing the objective

View Video 3, Scene 3.5 – Reviewing research staff In this scene Sally gains Suresh‟s agreement to actions and checks that he knows what he needs to do.



Write a SMART objective for yourself



4. Preparation You will need to prepare for each of the review meetings that you conduct. Although not

always the case, you are likely to know those people whom you will be reviewing so you

will have a good idea of their issues, their attitudes and possibly their feelings towards

reviews. This knowledge will be useful in your preparation.

Before each team member’s review you should consider:

Their performance since the last review

o What has gone well – with examples

o What could have been done differently or better (with examples)

o Any discussions you have had about their performance and any resulting

changes

Any anticipated changes to workload, particularly those which might require the

team member to learn new skills/knowledge

Anything you would like the team member to do differently

What the team member wants to talk about. Some universities will have a

preparation form to be completed by the team member prior to their review and

shared with their reviewer. This is very helpful in your preparation

If you know your team member is interested in undertaking any training and/or

development you might want to investigate how appropriate this is, any

implications for the team, the cost and how this would be met

What you want to achieve from the review

The team member’s likely response to the above and any strategies you might need

to adopt

Some open questions to start off each item



Think about one of your team members and make a note of three work related activities

that have gone well over the last year and one thing that you would like them to do in a

different way.

You should also make all the appropriate domestic arrangements, such as:

Where you will be carrying out the review. If you have a private office then you

are likely to use that. However, many people may have to book a meeting room.

Whatever room you use make sure you won’t be interrupted and that it is private

and you won’t be overheard.

It might be a good idea to arrange to have tea/coffee available – this helps to

create a more relaxed, informal environment



Allow enough time for the meeting. It is better to over-estimate, just in case the

meeting goes on longer than you anticipate. For example, if you expect most

reviews to last for around an hour, book at least 1½ hours in your diary.

Unless you have absolutely no alternative do not carry out reviews in a formal

office layout with a desk between you and the team member. Try to get a more

informal layout. Have a look at the film clips for some ideas.

Where will you hold your review meetings?

Thorough preparation for each review will make you feel more confident and lead to a

more effective meeting.



5. The Review Meeting You have prepared well and know what you want to achieve at your team member’s

review meeting. The time has come for the meeting.

Welcome the team member and try to make them feel at ease. With many team

members this won’t be a problem but some may feel nervous, particularly if they haven’t

had a review before, or if they don’t normally have a great deal of contact with you.

You should remind the team member of the purpose and benefits of reviews and stress

the confidentiality of the process. Try to communicate your enthusiasm for the process.

At the beginning of the meeting you should agree an agenda with your team member. If

the team member has completed a preparation form then you may have prepared the

agenda in advance using the information from their form. If not, ask the team member

what they would like to talk about during the review and note down the items so that you

can refer to it during the meeting.

View Video 3, Scene 3.3 – Reviewing technical staff

In this scene Lucy agrees the agenda with Paul at the beginning of their Review Meeting.

Before working through the agenda items it is a good idea to give an overview of the

team member’s performance since their last review. Praise the team member for work

that has gone particularly well. You may wish to highlight issues which you would like to

discuss in more depth and that are on the agenda.

The easiest way to structure the meeting is to work through each item on the agenda.

Introduce each item, have your discussion, probe for information, agree necessary actions

and gain commitment and, where appropriate, agree objectives.



When you have completed your discussions on the agenda items summarise any agreed

actions and objectives and confirm that the team member agrees with these. Let the

team member know what happens next with any documentation, will they receive a copy,

and if so, when.

Don’t forget to thank the team member for coming to the review and thank them once

again for their work over the past year.

You will need to take notes during the review meeting so that you can write up any

documentation afterwards. Make the team member aware of the reason for your note

taking. It is advisable to make notes at the end of each agenda item to summarise

agreements and actions. If the team member talks about personal issues make a point of

putting your pen down and not writing. Remember that when you are writing you are not

making eye contact and it is unlikely that you will be listening actively.

It is recommended that you arrange follow up meetings to discuss progress towards

objectives. We all know that things change and sometimes a team member won’t be able

to achieve their objectives because of this. Follow up meetings need not be lengthy and

their frequency will depend on the objectives agreed.



Summary of Video Scenes

Video 1 – Introduction What Can Go Wrong The first four scenes give examples of what can go wrong at reviews and may raise some fears that potential reviewers have. You may wish to have a look at these four scenes and consider went wrong and how the situation could be handled differently. 1. June and Dave (Manual staff)

Dave has worked as a part time cleaner at the University for a few years. June is very happy with his work and is not sure what they are going to talk about at Dave’s review.

2. Lucy and Paul (Technician)

Paul thinks that reviews are a waste of time and that he works harder than his colleagues and deserves a pay rise.

3. Jane and Matt (Lecturer)

Matt is an experienced lecturer with high expectations from his students. 4. Sally and Suresh (Researcher)

Suresh has worked as a Researcher for a couple of years and is coming to the end of his contract. Sally has been encouraging him to be proactive in finding another post.

When conducting a Review it is important to be honest. However, think carefully about what you are going to say and how you will say it. Scene 5 illustrates what not to do! 5. Joseph and Pardip (Administration)

Pardip is good at his job and wants to apply for a more senior position. Joseph does not think that he is ready for this promotion.



Video 2 - Key Skills The following two scenes identify the skills which will help to make your reviews more effective. These skills are: Questioning Listening Giving feedback Gaining agreement Committing to actions

These key skills are illustrated within the following film scenes.

2.1 Lucy and Linda (Technician)

Lucy is very happy with Linda’s work, but is concerned that she may be left behind due to her reluctance to learn new skills.

2.2 Joseph and Jenny (Administration)

Jenny is unhappy with her huge workload which is largely due to her colleague being off sick.

Video 3 - Effective Reviews This video shows parts of review meetings where the key skills are used and are intended to illustrate more effective review meetings. These scenes can be viewed independently or in conjunction with the scenes in Video 1.

3.1 Joseph and Pardip (Administration)

Pardip is good at his job and wants to apply for a more senior position. You do not think that he is ready for this promotion.

This scene shows Joseph giving honest feedback to Pardip and illustrates how they

work together to identify what Pardip needs to do to develop his skills.



3.2 June and Dave (Manual Staff)

Dave has worked as a part time cleaner at the University for a few years. June is very happy with his work and is not sure what they are going to talk about.

This scene illustrates that even if there are no pressing issues to discuss, it is

important to use the opportunity to give feedback and to check out any assumptions you may have about the team member’s ambitions.

3.3 Lucy and Paul (Technician)

Paul thinks that reviews are a waste of time and that he works harder than his colleagues and deserves a pay rise.

It may be true that Paul does work harder than his colleagues but the review is not

about having a pay rise. The scene shows how Lucy tries to convince Paul that reviews aren’t a waste of time and how she deals with the issue regarding the distribution of work.

3.4 Jane and Matt (Lecturer)

Matt is an experienced lecturer with high expectations of his students. However some students are struggling and there are rumours that they are considering making a formal complaint about Matt’s teaching style.

This scene shows how Jane tries to get Matt to see the situation from the students’

point of view and then reflect on his style. 3.5 Sally and Suresh (Researcher)

Suresh has worked as a Researcher for a couple of years and is coming to the end of his contract. Sally has been encouraging him to be proactive in finding another post.

In this scene Sally shows understanding about Suresh’s reluctance to network and

offers him some advice on how to be more proactive.

Documents

How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews · How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews How Are You Doing? Skills for Effective Staff Reviews A Small Development